A heated exchange erupted between Team Canada and Sweden during Friday’s round-robin curling match at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics, as Brad Jacobs’ squad secured an 8-6 victory amid accusations of rule violations.
The tension began to build when Sweden’s team questioned whether Canada’s curlers were illegally touching the stone after releasing it, prompting officials to closely monitor both teams’ deliveries. Canada, in turn, requested the same scrutiny of Sweden’s releases, creating a frosty atmosphere on the ice.
The animosity escalated in the penultimate end, after Sweden scored two points to trail 7-6, when Sweden’s third, Oskar Eriksson, confronted Canada’s Marc Kennedy, accusing him of repeatedly touching the stone. “I’ll show you a video after the game,” Eriksson reportedly told Kennedy, to which Kennedy retorted, “You can f–k off.”
Following the match, Kennedy addressed the heated exchange, stating, “It’s good. It’s sport. It’s the Olympics. Both teams are trying to win. Oskar was accusing us of cheating. I didn’t like it. I’ve been curling professionally for 25 years.”
This year’s Games feature electronic handles on the stones, designed to flash red if a player maintains contact with the stone beyond the hog line – the designated release point. The handles are equipped with touch sensors that interact with a magnetic strip embedded in the ice.
“There’s hog line devices on there. I don’t know. And he’s still accusing us of cheating. I didn’t like it. So I told him where to stick it,” Kennedy said. “Given that we’re the wrong team to do that to. So I don’t care.”
The loss marked the third consecutive defeat for defending champions Sweden, who previously fell to Great Britain and Italy.
“He might have been upset that he was losing,” Kennedy added. “He might be upset that they’re 0-2, grasping for straws. I just told him again. I said I have a ton of respect for him as a player. I’ve never said a bad word about Oskar Eriksson. I don’t really know what he’s trying to get out of it. And yeah, onward. But I’m not going to stand there and take cheating lightly.”
Eriksson explained that his team believed Kennedy was touching the stone itself, rather than the sensor-equipped handle, which would prevent the red light from activating.
“He asked who we thought was over the hog line and I pointed out who we thought was touching the rock,” Eriksson said. “It was obviously not a red light, but some players are touching the rock according to us. And that’s not allowed … We told the officials. They came out and they misread the rules, sadly.
“Because they thought double touching any part of the rock is OK. And then they found out that was wrong. You can only touch the electronic part of the handle.”
Swedish skip Niklas Edin expressed his disappointment with the escalating tension.
“We’re all super good friends out there,” Edin said. “We’ve known them for 20 years. And [rule violations have] happened many times before, so it’s just sad that it gets to heated discussions on the ice instead of just curling, according to the rulebooks, but it’s what it is.”
World Curling released a statement confirming that umpires were stationed at the hog line to monitor deliveries for three ends after the initial concerns were raised.
“There were no hog line violations or retouches of the stone during the observation,” the statement concluded. The win improves Team Canada’s record to 3-0 in the tournament.
